A short operation of necessity – Israeli

Israel has applied “a lot of force” against Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip, but the air-ground military operation will “not last long,” Avika Tor, Israel’s consul-general in San Francisco, said Tuesday on a Seattle visit.

In a meeting with P-I editors, Tor insisted that Israel has been “very very surgical” in its effort to stop rocket attacks on settlements and cities in the southern part of the Jewish state. Its armed forces have not tried to occupy densely populated Gaza City.

“The consensus is that Israel will only fight wars of necessity: This is an operation of necessity,” he argued.

The city has been a longtime public opinion battleground on Middle East issues. Some Protestant churches, liberal activists and even some Jewish peace activists have long criticized Israel for its occupation and settlements in the predominantly Palestinian West Bank and Gaza.

Two years ago, however, Israel did give up 21 settlements in Gaza and force 9,000 Jewish settlers to move out of the coastal strip.

The gesture “didn’t work”, Tor acknowledged on Tuesday, and the militant Hamas won Palestinian legislative elections a year later. When 100 rockets rained down on Israel in late fall, “we had to do something about it,” Tor said.

The Israeli consul was candid about risks of the operation.

The air and ground assault on Gaza has reduced the firing of rockets into Israel. But it has not halted Hamas’ airborne aggression, which has begun to pose a threat to Be’er Sheva, principal city in the Negev.

“I don’t know if we can achieve this,” Tor said. “Nobody knws whether we can achieve it, but we will try.”

He argued that one Israeli town just 2.5 miles from Gaza, Sderot, has lost substantial population due to the rocket attacks. The assault threatens to “depopulate” areas of Israel that adjoin Gaza.

Will the Israeli assault, which has already resulted in more than 600 Palestinian deaths, backfire and drive recruits into Hamas’ ranks>

“We understand that what we’re doing has a radicalizing element at some level,” said Tor. “We can’t not do it.”

Will Hamas, even if bled, be helped. “Yes, in the short term that might be true,” Tor added. “But if, in the long term, Hamas prevails and becomes the dominant force, it does not encourage their moderation.”

The air-ground operation by Israel is a prelude to perhaps major changes in Middle East policy and players.

In the United States, the Bush administration leaves office in less than two weeks: The outgoing president is disengaged, his successor unwilling to make policy before noon on Jan. 20.

Israeli voters go to the polls late next month, certain to elect a new prime minister as well as a new parliament.

“It is a lame duck government doing its job,” Tor said of the military operation.
“We’ve destroyed large amounts of material,” he added. “Time will tell how successful we have been in our endeavor, and how not.”